Segmenting machine for dry ice



1942- G. G. W ESTERF|ELD 2,292,915

SEGMENTING MACHINE FOR DRY ICE Filed May 8, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. paw/z: jJ/er/if/J, BY v Q 9, M.

ATTORNEYS.-

G; G. WESTERFIELD SEGMENTING' MACHINE FOR DRY ICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 8, 1939 INVENTOR. JPZ/lf/Z/B jw/er/fk/ WwM.

ATTORNEY J,

11, 1942. a. e. WESTERFIELD 2,292,915

' SEGMENTING MACHINE FOR DRY ICE Filed May 8, 19:59 4 Sheets-She et 3 I VINVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 11, 1942.

s. GQWESTERFIELD J SEGMENTING MACHINE FOR DRY ICE Filed May 8, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. pawn/1e )fasler/Ze/Z BY ATTORNEYfi Patented Aug. 11, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE:

SEGMENTING MACHINE FOR DRY ICE Granville G. West'erfield, Indianapolis, Ind. 7 Application May 8, 1939, Serial No. 272,440

5 Claims.

The object of my invention is to provide mechanism by which blocks of solidfied carbon dioxide may be conveniently and safely cut into uniform smaller pieces of desired size and automatically packaged in a package comprising a series of connected pockets, the construction of the package being such that an appropriate number of connected pockets filled with, uniform pieces of dry ice may be used as a wrapper or envelope for an article to be refrigerated. The package mentioned above forms the subject matter of my co-pending application Serial No. 272,439. I

The handling of dry ice involves some danger, because of its very low temperature, and my improved mechanism has been so designed as to eliminate the necessity of manual manipulation of the dry ice from its transition from' an integrated portion of the supply block to the interior of the package in which it may be readily and safely transported and manipulated to form envelopes for articles to be refrigerated.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of my invention:

Fig. 1 is a plan of the machine, but showing only a fragment of the package-strip and omitting parts of the feeding mechanism for the package-strip;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation in partial vertical section;

Fig. 3 an. elevation and partial vertical section, on a larger scale, of the right hand end of the machine with the package-strip and its supporting table omitted;

Fig. 4 a fragmentary vertical sectionon line 44 of Fig. l, on an enlarged scale; and

Fig. 5 a fragmentary elevation of the feeding mechanism for the package-strip.

In the drawings 2!] indicates a mainframe having horizontal tracks ZI-Zl extending from front to rear of the main frame. Mounted on these tracks is a carriage 22 in which is journaled a shaft 23 upon which are pivoted two depending arms 24-24, each of which is axially slidable in a pocket 25 at the upper end of a swinging arm 26. The arms 26 are connected to a, rock shaft 21 provided, at one end, with a lever 28 to which is connected a pitman 29, the opposite end of which is adjustably connected to a Wrist pin plate 30 carried by a shaft 3!, the arrangement being such Carriage 22 is provided with Sideboards 32 to form a runway or receptacle for a block of dry 55 ice 33 and the floor of the carriage, between the Sideboards, is slotted at 34 above and parallel with shaft 23. Shaft 23, at its middle and for the major portion of its length, is provided with a quickpitch thread 23 embraced by a nut 35 slidably mounted in slot 34 and carrying a pusher plate 36 adapted to engage the rear end of block 33. The pusher plate 33 is provided with a suitable handle 3! and the nut 35 is preferably a split nut or half-pocket nut of well known form, such that it may be readily disengaged from the quick-. pitch screw 23' for rapid return movement toward the right, Fig. 2. Nuts of this general type are well known in slicing machines of various kinds, such as meat slicing machines, and therefore need no detailed illustration,

Secured to shaft 23 is a ratchet wheel 38 engaged by a pawl 3% carried by a bell crank lever on journaled on the shaft adjacent the ratchet wheel and provided with a depending weighted, arm 46 intermittently engaged by a stop 4| carried by the main frame and connected by a link-. age 42 to a lever 43 pivoted at 44 on the main frame and swingable relative to detent segment 45 to adjust the stop 4| toward or from the plane of the axis of shaft 23 to contact lever arm 40' at a greater or lesser distance'from the axis of shaft 23 so as to vary the amount of advancement of shaft 23 for each reciprocation of carriage 22 and thereby vary the amount of advancement of the pusher plate 35 and consequent advancement of the ice block 33.

Coordinated with the delivery end of carriage Z2 is the active run of a band saw 58 mounted to act in the vertical plane at right angles to the line of movement of pusher plate 36. The band saw is passed around a driving wheel 5I' and idler 52, in the usual manner. The shaft of wheel 5| is connected by worm gearing 53 with a shaft 54 parallel with shaft 3| and provided with a clutch 55 by means of which the gearing 53 may be connected to, or disconnected from, shaft 54.

Movement of carriage 22 away from the observer (upwardly in Fig. 1) brings block 33 into engagement with the band saw 50 to cut a slab of desired thickness from the left hand end of block 33 and to bring said slab, at the time of its complete severance, opposite a flipper finger GI which is spring pivoted on a vertical axis 62 and is somewhat above the vertical center of block 33. Continued advancement of carriage 22 away from the observer brings the left hand end of the forward sideboard 32 into engagement with one arm of a spring-biased bell crank lever 64, pivoted at 65, so that its opposite arm will engage finger 6| to move it so as to unbalance the severed slab and cause it to fall upon a horizontal slotted plate 66 over which are mounted the two saws 6|6'I carried by the horizontal shaft 68. The saws 61 are arranged to cut each slab into three equal strips, and the slab, after severance, is advanced into engagement with the saws 61 and therebeyond by pushers I9 mounted in the slots of plate 66 and carried by a carriage II mounted in a track I2. Pivoted upon carriage II, at I3, is a depending rod I4 slidably mounted in a pocket I5 formed in the upper end of a lover I6 carried by a rockshaft I1. Lever I5 is provided with a swiveled eye I8- through which slides a rod I9 pivoted, at 99, on one of the levers 25. Rod I9, upon opposite sides of eye I8, is provided with adjustable stop blocks 8I-8I, the arrangement being such that, toward the end of each half reciprocation of arms 26, the stop blocks 8| will alternately engage lever I6 to cause reciprocation of the pusher heads I9 in their runways.

Tracks 9999, atright angles to tracks 2|, support three channel-shaped carriages 9|, 9|, 9|, so proportioned and arranged as to be capable of receiving the strips of dry ice produced by saws 61. In order to align these channelshaped carriages 9|, 9|, 9|" in a position to receive the strip as they are formed by saws 61, and to later position these channel carriers for delivery of their contained strips into my improved package, to be described, the carriages 9| 9|, 9| are connected, respectively, to the outer ends of pitmans 92, 92, 92" connected to a lever 93, at different points in the length of said lever, whereby, upon reciprocation of said lever, differential attachment of the pitman to said lever will carry the several carriages 9|, 9| 9| to advanced positions, indicated in dotted linesin- Fig. 1, where they are separated from one another to a greater extent than when in their receiving position, indicated in full lines.

Lever 93 is reciprocated by a pitman 95 connected to a wrist pin plate 96 carried by shaft 9'! having a gear 98 coacting with a gear 99 carried by shaft 54, the gears 99 and 99 being of the well known intermittent type such that one rotation of shaft 54 produces one rotation of shaft 9'! followed by a period of rest.

My improved package is composed of endless strips of corrugated paper I99, and associated corrugated liner paper strip |9I and an associated cover strip I92, thereby providing a plurality of parallel connected, open-ended pockets I93 sized to receive the strips of material produced by saws 61. The several sheets of which the package is composed are united by adhesive at the ridges I94 between the pockets I93. An endless strip of this multi-pocket package traverses a work table I I9 which is parallel with the tracks 90 and in the region of the movement of the channel carriers 9|, 9|, 9|, The work table H0 is overlaid by a lip III (Fig. 4), beneath which the adjacent edge of sheet I92 of the package passes while the adjacent edge of sheet I9I of the package passes over the lip so that the mouths of pockets I93 are thereby vertically aligned with the delivery ends of the channel carriers 9|, 9|, 9|.

The package strip is intermittently advanced three pockets at a time by a pusher bar I29, the free end of which rides upon the package strip and is provided with depending fingers I2I adapted to engage the rear wall of every third pocket I93. Pusher bar I29 is carried by an arm I22, carried by a rockshaft I23, provided with an operating arm I24 slotted at its lower end to adjustably receive one end of a pitman I25 connected to the upper end of lever 93', the arrangement being such that each forward movement of lever 93 to shift the channel carriages 9|, 9|, 9|" from receiving positions to delivering positions will come at the same time and advance the package strip three pockets and align three empty pockets with the channel carriers 9|, 9|, 9|" in their delivery positions.

Arranged above the plane of table 66 in alignment with the delivery positions of the channel carriers 9|, 9|, 9|" are three pusher fingers I39, each of which is adapted totraverse one of the carriers 9|, 9|, 9|". Each pusher finger I39 is provided with an upwardly projecting pivoted stem |3I slidably mounted in a pocket I32 formed in the lower end of a lever I33. The several levers I33 are carried by rockshaft I34 having a bell crank lever I35, one arm of which is connected to a spring I33 anchored at I3I on the main frame and arranged to bias the rockshaft to normally position the several pusher fingers I39 just beyond the receiving ends of the carriers 9|, 9|, 9|" in their delivery positions.

The other end of lever I35 is provided with a roller I35 which is overridden by an arm I 39 pivoted at I39 to carriage 22. At an intermediate point in its length, the arm I38 is provided with a notch I49 formed to hook over roller I35 to move bell crank lever I35 in opposition to spring I36, so as to project the pusher fingers I39 through the carriers 9|, 9|, 9| an amount sufficient to deliver the ice strips from the carriages into the package strip, whereupon a roller I4I carried by the arm I38 comes into engagement with fixed cam I42, carried by the standards which support shaft I34, to release the pusher fingers I39 for return to normal position by spring I36 and to permit further movement of carriage 22 toward the front of the machine without movement of hell crank lever I35.

The shaft 5| of wheel 5| is driven from any suitable source of power and shaft 5| is connected by pulley I43, belt I44, and pulley I45 with shaft 68.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine for segmenting blocks of material such as dry ice, a band saw and associated material-supporting table, a block carrier reciprocable in a plane parallel with one run of the saw, an element having a slab-engaging portion movable in a plane intersecting the sawing plane and arranged to engage one vertical face of a slab segmented from the block by the saw above its center of gravity, and means synchronized with the block carrier for actuating said element toward the sawing plane, subsequent to slab segmentation, for overbalancing the slab to a retculiorlibent position on the material-supporting 2. In a machine for segmenting blocks of material such as dry ice, a band saw, a block carrier reciprocable in a plane parallel with one run of the saw, an element arranged to engage a slab of material, segregated by the saw, and overbalance it to a recumbent position, a table arranged to support the recumbent slab, slab cuting means arranged in position to cut slabs into strips when propelled over said table, slab propelling means arranged to engage a recumbent slab and propel it through said cutting means,

and means synchronized with the block-carrier for reciprocating said slab propelling means.

3. In a machine for segmenting blocks of material such as dry ice, a band saw, a block carrier reciprocable in a plane parallel with one run of the saw, an element arranged to engage a slab of material, segregated by the saw, and overbalance it to a recumbent position, a table arranged to support the recumbent slab, slab cutting means arranged in position to cut slabs into strips when propelled over said table, slab propelling means arranged to engage a recumbent slab and propelling against said cutting means, means synchronized with the block-carrier for reciprocating said slab propelling means, said means comprising a lever connected to the block-carrier, a lever connected to the slab propelling means, and a connecting rod between said levers having two opposed one-Way contacts between the connecting rod and the slab propelling lever, whereby the block-carrier, at the initial end of its movement in either direction may move independently of the slab propelling means.

4. In a machine for segmenting blocks of material such as dry ice, a band saw, a block carrier reciprocable in a plane parallel with one run of the saw, feeding means associated with the carrier for intermittently feeding the content of the carrier toward the plane of said run of the saw, means for reciprocating said carrier, means synchronized with said reciprocating means for intermittently actuating said feeding means While the carrier is laterally oifset relative to the saw, a pusher laterally offset relative to the saw in position to engage a slab severed from the carrier content above its center of gravity, means synchronized with the carrier reciprocating means for actuating said pusher to overturn said slab to a recumbent position, and a support arranged to receive and support said overturned slab.

5. In a'machine for segmenting blocks of material such as dry ice, a band saw, a block carrier reciprocable in a plane parallel with one run of the saw, feeding means associated with the carrier for intermittently feeding the content of the carrier toward the plane of said run of the saw, means for reciprocating said carrier, means synchronized with said reciprocating means for intermittently actuating said feeding means while the carrier is laterally ofiset relative to the saw, a pusher laterally offset relative to the saw in position to engage a slab severed from the carrier content above its center of gravity, means synchronized with the carrier reciprocating means for actuating said pusher to overturn said slab to a recumbent position, a support arranged to receive and support said overturned slab, slab segmenting means arranged in advance of the overturned slab, a slab pusher, and means synchronized with said carrier for driving said slab pusher to carry the slab through said segmenting means.

GRANVILLE G. WESTERFIELD. 

